hug
by BluWine
Summary: PostReunion TenRose fic. - Before Rose leaves the Doctor, this time voluntarily, to go back to Pete's World, they make a promise to keep in touch but keep separated... but sometimes keeping promises is overrated.


Hello again! It's another edition to my XKCD series. Please just head on to my profile if you want to see which comic inspired this ditty.

**(hug)**

Rose Tyler had her mobile on her… ALWAYS. There are some people who thought it was some sort of obsessive compulsion with work but if they ever took the time to notice, the mobile only rang or vibrated every few weeks or so. She'd check it every few hours but it would only give her a strange ring, which bystanders have described as a "vwooping", every few days at the most frequent.

Today was no exception from the rule. At least, it started out as such. Rose was at work at 9 am and was going down the hall to her office when her hip vibrated, telling her that a short message would be waiting for her when she picked it up.

_From: The Doctor  
Sent: 0902 03/09/08  
Message: (hug)_

She knew that she probably wouldn't be hearing from the Doctor for another week. As per their agreement when she went back to Pete's World, this time voluntarily, neither would attempt to see each other for another six months at least. Both needed to be okay with that. They knew that their relationship was so much more than words could describe adequately but that it was near impossible to make it work. So, in the words of Mickey Smith, they were "officially unofficially together". Rose smiled and closed it again with a snap

* * *

Danielle was giving was debriefing Rose about the alien sightings in Vietnam when the glass table started to vibrate. Rose frowned. No one knew that number except for the Doctor, Martha, Jack and Donna. The Doctor was the only one who contacted her regularly on her side of the Void and he already filled up two weeks' quota with one text message. 

Thinking that something was wrong, Rose lunged at the vibrating piece of metal and plastic only to see another text message again.

_From: The Doctor  
Sent: 1147 03/09/08  
Message: Just one more time. (hug)_

Danielle looked at her superior strangely when Rose let out an uncharacteristically girly laugh. Rose closed her eyes soaking in the moment for just a second, before reverting back to the serious and stoic Rose Tyler of the Universe.

"… So what was that about the rice fields, Danielle?" Rose asked, her eyes opening with an expression as if nothing happened.

* * *

Rose's sandwich was half eaten, its brother devoured by the ravenous blonde. The bottle of water next to it was already half gone when the mobile started to vibrate again. 

_From: The Doctor  
Sent: 1423 03/09/08  
Message: (hug)_

A smirk graced her lips as her fingers flashed across the keys.

_To: The Doctor  
Message: Slow day in the Saving the Universe business?  
Message Sent!_

_From: The Doctor  
Sent: 1428 03/09/08  
Message: Holiday today._

_To: The Doctor  
Message: I didn't realize superheroes had holidays.  
Message Sent!_

_From: The Doctor  
Sent: 1431 03/09/08  
Message: Course we do. Paid time off and everything._

Rose physically laughed. She wanted to continue the banter but Ronald barged into the room yelling about escaped Weevils on the third floor. Slipping the mobile into her pocket, Rose followed her colleague to the stairs.

* * *

_From: The Doctor  
Sent: 1501 03/09/08  
Message: Rose?_

_From: The Doctor  
Sent: 1504 03/09/08  
Message: HelllloooOOoo?_

_From: The Doctor  
Sent: 1507 03/09/08  
Message: … I feel very neglected right now._

_From: The Doctor  
Sent: 1510 03/09/08  
Message: (sigh)_

_From: The Doctor  
Sent: 1511 03/09/08  
Message: just one last time then. (hug)._

* * *

_To: The Doctor  
Message: sorry. Weevils.  
Message Sent!_

Rose collapsed onto her couch, her perfectly curled hair a standing mess after the near explosion in the building's 1st floor. After that incident and the exhaustion from working the past nine days straight, Rose Tyler just wanted to return to her flat and take a nap. The vibrating mobile in her pocket refused to let her do anything but answer the phone however.

_From: The Doctor  
Sent: 1555 03/09/08  
Message: you know, I haven't gotten a hug yet._

_To: The Doctor  
Message:(hug)  
Message Sent!_

_From: The Doctor  
Sent: 1601 03/09/08  
Message: … sorry. Can you try that again?_

Rose frowned wondering what he was up to.

_To: The Doctor  
Message:(hug)  
Message Sent!_

_From: The Doctor  
Sent: 1605 03/09/08  
Message: Didn't quite get that. One more time?_

Rose groaned in her exhaustion and growing annoyance.

_To: The Doctor  
Message:(hug)  
Message Sent!_

* * *

This time the Doctor didn't reply. Rose wondered if something might be wrong with the phone. Or maybe the stable connection they found through the Void was collapsing. For whatever reason, the Doctor didn't answer again. Rose returned to work bleary eyed. It wasn't until eight o' clock that evening that she was going to her car, parked a few hundred yards. She was tired, hungry, and now she was worried that the Doctor was angry with her for some reason she couldn't fathom. 

Speaking of the Doctor, Rose's ears pricked up at the sound of the TARDIS and instinctively opened the phone.

"I _sent_ you that message, so you better not be pouting in the console room," Rose said without even waiting for a hello. The phone stayed silent and that's when she realized that the sound was coming from behind her, not her mobile.

Rose turned and saw the familiar blue box materializing beside one of the nightshift staff's car and she grinned. When silence returned, the doors opened up and the Doctor was striding out in her direction. Within moments, she was up in his arms and he was squeezing her with all his might without actually suffocating her.

"Hug?" she laughed as he spun her around once.

"Sometimes typing hug just doesn't cut it," the Doctor murmured, kissing her forehead. He let her go and Rose was beaming at him. "I should go, huh."

Her smile faltered but they both knew that he shouldn't even be there in the first place. She felt her head nod, numbly. The Doctor turned to leave but her hand caught his, pulling him back into her arms.

Rose kissed her brown-eyed Doctor with as much ardor as she missed him in the last two months. The Doctor happily returned the gesture, cupping her face in his hands as he kissed her back.

They only released each other when Rose needed a breath and that was when both of them took a step away from each other.

"N.. Now," she stuttered, her fingers fixing her inevitably smeared lipstick. "Now you can go."

"You sure?" The Doctor grinned.

"Yea," she chuckled. He turned away and ran back into the TARDIS, fearing another moment of weakness. Rose watched the TARDIS disappear again and closed her eyes… She missed him already.

Rose got into her car and was turning the key to her engine when her mobile vibrated in the seat next to her. Knowing it was the Doctor again, she let her car warm up in the London chill as she checked her message with another grin.

_From: The Doctor  
Sent: 1835 03/09/08  
Message: (snog)_


End file.
